Changed
by Schemer Skye
Summary: They had both changed, so much. But sometimes change is a blessing in disguise.


Smellerbee smoothed the green Kyoshi warrior outfit she wore. The ex-Freedom Fighter had shortly joined them after the war. Without an actual leader, the Freedom Fighters had disbanded, although they still kept in touch.

The now fifteen-year-old gazed into the mirror in front of her and thought about how much she had changed in the last year. Her dark chestnut hair now reached her shoulders in uneven lengths and layers, a loose pigtail on the left side, her black headband pushing her overlong bangs out of her eyes. She smirked and twirled in the mirror. The beauty of not being underfed anymore had made her develop into a young lady. Thank the Spirits that no one ever mistook her for a boy any more.

Smellerbee tilted her head to the side and studied herself. It wasn't that she had filled out, she was still, much to her disgruntlement flat-chested, but her body had lengthened out and become more willowy instead of stocky, Suki also told her that since her Kyoshi warrior training she now moved with a grace that could be nothing less than female.

Her face had subtly changed to become more feminine, rounded cheeks now formed high cheekbones, and long eyelashes framing smoky-black eyes. Upon joining the warriors, she had purposely, absolutely _refused_ to wear any of that hideous make-up the other Kyoshi's wore. Eventually, Ty Lee had worn her down and Smellerbee now wore the red eye make-up and bloody lipstick although she had drawn the line at he face powder. She didn't like it but she really didn't want to wear permanent face paint, like Ty Lee had threatened to do.

There was one person she wished had seen her transformation more than anything.

_Jet._

A sharp pain stabbed through her heart as she thought of the Freedom Fighter's cunning leader. No one knew what had happened to him. Her and Longshot had taken him back to their house, only to have him taken by the Dai Li, again. All of them had been heart-broken when the war had ended and there was still no sign of Jet.

She blinked back tears and started outside towards her favorite trail, one that led towards the beach.

It had all started as a crush when she had first joined the Freedom Fighters, but she was only twelve at the time and more boyish than a girl, not really interested in boys yet. Besides, Jet had never shown any interest in her. He was more into the damsel in distress types, something she wasn't, and he was also interested in girls that looked like _girls_. She smiled wryly to herself, remembering when people used to call her a boy and she'd get especially angry when they said it in front of Jet. Smellerbee was born a fighter and even if she had been in a situation like that, most likely the she would prefer to rescue herself.

Smellerbee remembered all the training and fights her and Jet had been in, all the time she'd been thinking,_ Notice me! Can't you see we're equals?_

And they had been. All of the Freedom Fighters had been excellent, but her and Jet were the smartest and most skilled out of all of them.

One day while her and Jet had been sparring in the trees, just the two of them, a beam sunlight had hit his face, making his dark brown eyes sparkle and teeth whiter, his skin a sun-kissed tan. Smellerbee, just thinking about, could still feel her heart stop beating and her breath quicken.

That had been the moment Smellerbee realized her true feelings for her leader. Smellerbee the tom-boy had fallen in love with Jet, the play-boy.

Smellerbee walked out onto the beach and sat down, enjoying the feel of the waves lapping at her feet. For some reason, she mused, her memories seemed to be flowing into her mind and lapping into her consciousness like the waves lapping onto the shore.

She thought back to what had happened after that realization. She had started avoiding Jet, spending most of her time with The Duke or Longshot. She didn't know how, but she was pretty sure Longshot knew what Smellerbee was feeling towards their leader.

Smellerbee scowled, two months of avoiding Jet and then Katara, Miss Perfect had showed up with her whole mix of damsel/ tough girl act. When he had stared flirting with the water bender, Smellerbee had wanted to shriek,_ She's so pathetic! Why do you like her instead of me?_ And in Smellerbee's mind that had been true, she was as tough as nails, while Katara appeared like as if she broke a nail she'd pitch a hissy fit. Of course, that had probably just been her jealousy. Katara was slender, curved and beautifully exotic being from the Southern Water Tribe and next to her, Smallerbee had suddenly realized how gawky and short she was.

It had been ridiculous to be jealous over Katara, because Smellerbee had seen through his act and quickly pieced together what he was planning. Not that she had agreed with killing innocents. She had known, though, that with the Avatar and his gang in the forest the Freedom Fighter's wouldn't kill anyone. That was where she knew her and Jet differed. Whereas he thought things through at a moment's notice, Smellerbee had always dictated her actions by thinking about how they would fall in the future and plotting how people would behave by just their personalities. Judging another person's habits was one of Smellerbee's specialties.

He had always been manipulative, so his plans with the water bending girl and the Avatar was nothing unusual. He had tricked a lot of people in the past. What no one else knew was that _she_ had been the one to set everything straight when things went off course, _Smellerbee_ was the one to keep everyone in line and make sure nothing bad happened. As long as she had been a Freedom Fighter, Smellerbee had been the one to clean up his messes and in return Jet had become one of her closest friends and she had seen past his scheming ways to see a broken little boy past is suave exterior, hurt and lashing out in the belief he was helping.

The truth was, Smellerbee admitted to herself, no matter what Jet's heart had been ripped apart after watching his parents murder and when it did heal it had healed crooked and scarred, messing his mind up and affecting his growth. He probably couldn't have loved her if he wanted to, his mind too clouded with rage at the Fire Nation.

Smellerbee watched the fading glow of the sunset and she felt a tear slip out of her eye, all of this reminiscing was becoming emotionally unbearable. She would have killed to have Jet look at her with as much passion as he was when hunting down the Fire Nation soldiers. She backtracked. Maybe not as passionate. It had been more of an obsession for him. Kinda disturbing if she actually thought about it.

"Bee!" shrieked a high pitched voice faintly from the cliff. With lightning reflexes, Smellerbee flipped up, grabbing her knives and crouching low. Then she recognized Ty Lee racing towards her with a series of back flips. _Show off._

"Bee" as she was called now was what Ty Lee had started and it had quickly caught on. Another change. She now had a girly name along with a new girly figure. Smellerbee snorted, the Freedom Fighters would get a kick out of how much more feminine she was. They had practically all seen her as a boy for most of her life, they would probably die from shock. Or from laughing too hard. It really wouldn't matter since Smellerbee could still kick all their asses with one hand tied behind her back.

"S'up ,Ty Lee?" Bee questioned. Just because she looked like a girl didn't mean she had to act all stupid and giggly like one ,too.

Ty Lee put a finger to her lips giggling," It's a surprise. You have to come to the docks now!"

"But,why-" she was cut off as Ty Lee started dragging her back to the village.

Still giggling, the fire bender said," Trust me, you're gonna _love_ it."

/

Ty Lee halted at the edge of the village and Bee said in an irritated voice," Where's my surprise?"

The taller girl grinned and pulled down the younger girl's headband over her eyes, blacking out everything she saw. Had Ty Lee finally gone insane?

"Um, why are you blinding me?" she question with a voice like steel.

"Just trust me," sighed Ty Lee happily. Smellerbee felt Ty Lee grab her shoulder's from behind, giving instructions on where to step. She wrapped he hands around the hilt of a sword on her waist, just in case danger struck.

All of a sudden Ty Lee's hands disappeared and Smellerbee was lost, when a new set of hands replaced the fire benders. A rougher more masculine set of hands. She caught the scent of wood and grass and instinctively knew who it was, though it didn't click at first.

Slowly, she slid the head band down until it dangled around her neck like a necklace. She breathed in and turned to face the one she'd been longing to see for over a year.

He had grown up was her first thought. Jet was still just as handsome as he'd been a year ago, except he seemed more of a man now, less of a boy. His eyes were different, too. They weren't cold and flickering with anger, but calm and caring. He also seemed to have ditched that ridiculous habit of chewing on grass stalks.

"Jet…" she whispered. His hands were sill on her shoulder, and she placed one hand over one of his trying to take all of him in.

"Yeah, it's me." he replied. His voice was deeper, too.

Tears pricked at he back of her eyes and before she could stop herself, she flung her arm's around his neck, nearly jumping a foot in the air to do so since he was still at least a whole foot taller than her. She cried onto his shoulder, all the pain of him being gone leaking out.

What shocked her the most was when he wrapped his arms around her and she leant into his embrace.

She pulled away and gazed deeply into his eyes and finally, _finally_ she knew he felt the same way for her as she did for him.

Impulsively, Smellerbee leant forward and kissed him on the lips, it was only meant to be a peck, but Jet grabbed the back of her head and kissed her more deeply. His tongue ran over the seam of her lips and she parted them, enjoying that this was finally happening at last.

Things had changed,.


End file.
